Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

How do you know the tenant did it? Without some concrete proof that he did it, you may have problems. If you have proof get an estimate from an arborist on the cost of fixing it, if it can be fixed. I suspect it could probably be sanded out, but an arborist should be consulted to make sure the tree doesn't die.

Remember, you only have 21 days from the date of moving to either refund the deposit or provide an itemized list of deductions with estimates, invoices, etc. and a refund of any remaining amounts. If you are late, you can't keep any of the deposit and could be open to additional penalties.